President El-Sisi's Speech at Press Conference with Vietnam President Luong Cuong

“In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful”

Your Excellency, President Luong Cuong,

President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,

At the outset, I would like to welcome you and your accompanying delegation on this important visit to the Arab Republic of Egypt. This visit comes as part of our efforts to further advance bilateral relations and build upon the recent momentum in ties. I would also like, once again, to congratulate you on your assumption of the Presidency of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in October 2024. Your Excellency, we are confident that your journey will be marked by great achievements. We look forward to working together to enhance the bonds of cooperation between our two friendly governments and peoples.

Ladies and gentlemen,

This visit culminates efforts exerted over the past period to promote the decades-long relations between our two countries. These relations have always been characterized by outstanding coordination across all levels in order to realize the shared goals of our peoples. This was conducive to a greater alignment in positions on political issues of mutual interest, at both the regional and international levels.

Within this framework, my discussions today with the esteemed guest of Egypt resulted in an agreement to elevate relations between Egypt and Vietnam to the level of a Comprehensive Partnership, based on joint cooperation across all fields. Those include agriculture, manufacturing, trade, and investment, and will rely on the combined efforts of both the government and private sector. This will contribute to achieving the economic and social development goals of the two countries. Also today, we witnessed the signing of two Memoranda of Understanding between Egypt and Vietnam in the spheres of local development and economic development.

We concurred that the potential of our two countries have not yet been fully utilized. We agreed that we must leverage the momentum generated in our bilateral relations to enhance and strengthen our economic ties for the benefit of our countries and peoples. In this regard, Egypt can serve as a gateway for Vietnam to the Middle East and Africa, given the numerous free trade agreements it shares with these regions. Similarly, Vietnam can provide a gateway for Egypt to the countries of Southeast Asia.

In this context, our discussions today underscored the vital need to intensify coordination so as to establish appropriate mechanisms to increase the size and scope of our cooperation and trade. We also agreed on the importance of enhancing investment collaboration and developing cooperation in priority areas. Those include in particular infrastructure, information technology, and digital transformation. We also committed to exploring new avenues for cooperation, with a focus on aquaculture, textiles and ready-made garments, electrical appliances, fertilizers, food products, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, renewable energy, and electric vehicles.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In addition to economic relations, our talks focused on the necessity of strengthening people-to-people and cultural ties between our two countries. In this regard, we agreed to implement the signed Memoranda of Understanding on local development and other cooperation agreements between our cities, in addition to organizing cultural promotion events.

We also confirmed our shared interest to cooperate in tourism promotion and attracting tourists from both countries. In addition, we will continue our cooperation in various areas in the education sector, particularly through scholarships offered to Vietnamese students by the Ministry of Higher Education and Al-Azhar University.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The talks today also focused on the current situation in the Middle East, including Egypt's efforts to stop the escalation in the region, end the war in Gaza, and support the Palestinian people in attaining their legitimate rights and establishing a Palestinian State, along the June 4, 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Allow me, in this context, and with regard to the issue of the Rafah crossing, to state clearly and unequivocally for all that the ongoing war in Gaza is no longer merely a war to achieve political objectives or secure the release of hostages. This war has long since surpassed any semblance of logic or justification and has become a war of starvation, genocide, and also the liquidation of the Palestinian cause.

Let me be clear: what I am saying now is not directed at public opinion in Egypt or in the region, but rather at public opinion worldwide. The truth is that the lives of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, and perhaps in the West Bank as well, are now being exploited as a political bargaining chip. The human conscience and the international community stand idly by while observing events unfolding in the Gaza Strip.

Here, I must point out an extremely significant matter: over the past few months and weeks, there has been much discussion about Egypt's role regarding the delivery of aid. I have spoken on this issue before, and the media has covered it, but I will now elaborate, providing more details.

The Gaza Strip is connected to the outside world by five crossings: the Rafah crossing, and the remaining crossings with Israel. The Rafah crossing was not closed during this war, nor has it been in the past.

This is the first point. The second point is that for nearly 20 years, Egypt's role has been to prevent the situation in the Gaza Strip from escalating. Our role has always been to try and de-escalate any potential conflict between the sector and Israel. This is because we have always believed that any fighting would have a devastating impact on the Strip in a way or another.

This is the effort we have undertaken over the past years, and it did not end with the recent war. This is the fifth war in which Egypt has played a positive and effective role in bringing the fighting to a halt. Five times. This is the fifth time. We undertake this effort to ensure our role remains positive and peaceful in any conflict within our region in a way or another.

Regarding the Gaza Strip, we have undertaken this role since October 7th until now, by working vigorously and intensively to halt the war, deliver aid, and secure the release of hostages and detainees.

This role has not ended. However, over the past few weeks, I have noted a form of bankruptcy on this issue. It has been said that aid is not entering through the crossing because of Egypt, and that Egypt is preventing its entry. This is absolutely preposterous. The crossing was not closed; in fact, it was destroyed four times during the recent war. Four times we undertook the process of restoring and repairing it until Israeli forces arrived on the other side of the crossing.

The Rafah crossing has one part on the Egyptian borders, on Egyptian territory, and the second part within Palestinian territory. The crossing could have continued to deliver aid as long as Israeli forces were not stationed on the Palestinian side. This is the core issue. When we talk and exert efforts with our partners in Qatar and the United States, as I have mentioned before, the goal has been, quite simply, to stop the war, bring in aid, and release the hostages.

This role has not ended. However, today as I speak to you, and over the past months, there are more than 5,000 trucks now on Egyptian territory. I urge the media to cover this more extensively. 5,000 trucks are loaded with aid from Egypt and from other contributing countries. It should be noted that more than 70% of the aid provided to the Gaza Strip over the past 21 months was provided by Egypt, though that is not the issue now.

The issue now is the delivery and entry of the largest possible volume of aid for our Palestinian brothers. We are witnessing systematic genocide in the Strip, a systematic genocide aimed at liquidating the Palestinian cause. Consequently, I have previously issued a call to the entire world, to the Europeans, and also to US President Trump, and I repeat it once again. I will repeat this call every time until this war ends and aid is allowed into the Gaza Strip.

Before the war, 600 to 700 trucks loaded with food and essential supplies for the sustenance of approximately 2.3 million Palestinians entered from Egypt. Imagine that this quantity has been reduced to zero over the past 21 months. The situation you are witnessing now in the Gaza Strip is a direct result of that, not because Egypt has abandoned its role in delivering aid or is complicit in the siege of the Strip.

This is a very serious and critical matter. People must know, not only in Egypt but around the world, that this represents the bankruptcy of those who make such baseless  accusations against Egypt. We are ready to bring in many times more than that amount to relieve the Palestinian people. We call for an end to the war, again and again, and we are exerting tremendous effort and will continue to do so.

I want to make it clear to all who are listening, history will pause for a long time and it will deliver a severe verdict and hold many individuals and countries to account for their position on this war. History will not remain silent, nor will the human conscience.

Egypt will always remain a gateway for the delivery of aid, not a gateway for the displacement of the Palestinian people. This has been our unshakable position since October 8th and 9th, and it remains our position today. Our stance is unequivocal: we are firmly ready to bring in aid at all times, but we are absolutely not ready to receive or displace the Palestinians from their land.

There are those with another objective: to divert attention from the party truly responsible for the catastrophic and miserable Palestinian situation. I warn now, as I have sternly warned before, of the dire consequences should this situation continue.

In this regard, I would like to express appreciation for Vietnam's firm and supportive position on the Palestinian people's right to establish their independent state. I also value our shared position, which categorically rejects the displacement of the Palestinians from their land and calls for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the beginning of reconstruction. This is aimed at achieving a comprehensive and lasting solution, based on the principles of international legitimacy that guarantees security and stability in the region.

Your Excellency, President Luong Cuong,

Once again, I welcome you to your second country, Egypt, and I am hopeful that this visit will serve as a crucial milestone in the journey of strengthening relations between our two friendly countries.

In conclusion, I wish Your Excellency every success and the people of Vietnam, under your leadership, enduring progress and prosperity.

Thank you